TuTu Monroe
A Realist
Dozens arrested - inlcuding 2 New Jersey mayors - in sweeping money laundering probe
By John Marzulli and Carrie Melago
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Thursday, July 23rd 2009, 10:35 AM
Sciarrino/AP Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, left, is led into FBI headquarters in Newark, NJ.
A host of New Jersey politcians - including two mayors - and dozens of others were collared Thursday morning in a sweeping, two-year corruption probe stretching from the Garden State to Brooklyn.
Roughly 30 people were arrested during ongoing raids connected to alleged money-laundering in Syrian Jewish communities in Deal, N.J., and several Brooklyn neighborhoods.
Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, Secaucus Mayor Denis Elwell, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Baldini and Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega were rounded up by the FBI and expected to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Newark Thursday afternoon.
A news conference is scheduled for noon.
Meanwhile, agents were hitting several businesses and yeshivas in Borough Park, targeting rabbis connected to a "free loan society," sources said.
The takedown comes in the midst of a heated gubernatorial race in New Jersey, which pits incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine against Republican Chris Christie.
A former U.S. Attorney, Christie took on several corrupt politicians, prosecuting powerful former Hudson County Executive Robert Janiszewski and ex-Hoboken Mayor Anthony Russo, both Democrats.
View more news videos at: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/video.
By John Marzulli and Carrie Melago
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Thursday, July 23rd 2009, 10:35 AM
A host of New Jersey politcians - including two mayors - and dozens of others were collared Thursday morning in a sweeping, two-year corruption probe stretching from the Garden State to Brooklyn.
Roughly 30 people were arrested during ongoing raids connected to alleged money-laundering in Syrian Jewish communities in Deal, N.J., and several Brooklyn neighborhoods.
Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, Secaucus Mayor Denis Elwell, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Baldini and Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega were rounded up by the FBI and expected to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Newark Thursday afternoon.
A news conference is scheduled for noon.
Meanwhile, agents were hitting several businesses and yeshivas in Borough Park, targeting rabbis connected to a "free loan society," sources said.
The takedown comes in the midst of a heated gubernatorial race in New Jersey, which pits incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine against Republican Chris Christie.
A former U.S. Attorney, Christie took on several corrupt politicians, prosecuting powerful former Hudson County Executive Robert Janiszewski and ex-Hoboken Mayor Anthony Russo, both Democrats.
View more news videos at: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/video.
